Trucks and cabs pulling trailers can have open top trailers or truck containers, for which the contents may want to be protected from the environment or local regulations may require to be covered while transporting such contents of the container. For back dumping, certain trucks and trailers may have rear doors that open to allow contents to be dumped.
Roll tarps are well known for covering contents of the trucks and trailers during transportation. Roll tarps often include a tarp attached on an axle or roller to a side of a container. Roll-Rite produces a side-to-side knuckle arm assembly to unroll or open and to roll to close the tarp to cover the contents of the container.
Early roll tarps would have to be removed from trucks or trailer with rear opening doors when opening the doors. Roll tarp systems were developed to be used on trucks and trailers with rear doors without having to disconnect the system from the container or its door.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,304 discloses roll tarp system for use on vehicles and trailers with rear doors or gates. The roll tarp system includes a tarp attached to a side of a container, a roller attached to the tarp opposite of the container, a rear inner arm pivotally attached to the container, a first bias member attached to the rear inner arm, a rear outer arm attached to the first bias member, a second bias member attached to the rear outer arm and rotatably connected to a rear end of the roller and a front support structure rotatably connected to a front end of the roller.
The applicant considered intermediate rigid portions on a cable in conjunction with a cable deployed tarp system, but that is not considered prior art to the present disclosure, which does not include an intermediate rigid portion. An intermediate rigid portion between a rear pivoting arm and the roller of the roll tarp can be disposed between two flexible cables. An intermediate rigid portion could also form a sleeve on a cable as disclosed herein.
Existing tarp systems employ complicated structures with multiple arms and biasing members.